The present disclosure relates to milling machines that are used in road surface preparation or repairs. Milling machines are typically used to remove a layer or layers of ground surface or old or defective road surface in preparation for road formation or resurfacing. Many milling machines include a rotor having rotor bits for breaking up the ground surface, and include a rotor chamber to help direct the milled material toward a conveyor or back toward the surface. Such rotor chambers may include chamber walls that surround the rotor. The chamber walls may include a moldboard at the rear of the chamber that is movable between a closed position for milling, and an open position for access to the rotor for inspection and/or repair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,397, issued to Lyons on Dec. 12, 1995 (“the '397 patent”), describes a mobile milling machine 1 for milling a road surface that includes a floating moldboard 20 for directing milled material onto a loading device 30 positioned behind the machine. The moldboard 20 is vertically movable between a top and bottom stop positions, and is pivotable about a horizontal axis at the top stop position to expose the milling roller 10 for repairs. A locking pin 84 is slidably positioned in a housing 86 fastened to moldboard 20. Pin 84 can be extended into an adjacent slot 88 in the adjacent frame rail 14. The pin 84 is locked in place by a removable key 90 that extends through housing 86 and blocks movement of pin 84. With pin 84 in the slot 88 moldboard 20 can only move vertically. Removal of pin 84 from slot 88 permits moldboard 20 to pivot outwardly and upwardly, as shown in FIG. 4 of the '397 patent. However, the pin 84 securement of the '397 patent suffers drawbacks in its manual nature and lack of full securement in the moldboard closed and pivoted positions.
The moldboard retention system of the present disclosure may solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art. The scope of the current disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.